2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Application of Raman spectroscopy for visualizing biochemical changes during peripheral nerve injury

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24890199
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Orthopaedic surgery
Research Institution	Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
Principal Investigator	MORISAKI Shinsuke 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (20627294)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	末梢神経 / ラマン顕微鏡
Research Abstract	Raman spectroscopy can be used for analysis of objects by detecting the vibrational spectrum using label-free methods. This imaging method was applied to analysis of peripheral nerve regeneration by examining the sciatic nerve in vitro and in vivo. Raman spectra of intact nerve tissue had three particularly important peaks in the range 2800-3000 cm-1. Spectra of injured sciatic nerves showed significant changes in the ratio of these peaks. Analysis of cellular spectra suggested that the spectrum for sciatic nerve tissue reflects the axon and myelin components of this tissue. The relative change in the axon to myelin ratio showed a similar initial increase, followed by a decrease at 28 days after injury. Thus, our results suggest that label-free biochemical imaging with Raman spectroscopy can be used to detect turnover of axon and myelin in peripheral nerve regeneration.